Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Malawi · Malawi

Karonga

kah-ROHN-gah (approx.)

The atlas records 1 collection-point form from Karonga.

9.9369°S 33.9463°E

Karonga is a town on Lake Malawi's Malawian shore, about 3 km south of the North Rukuru River.

Where it is

Karonga is on the western shore of Lake Malawi, in its northern third (32 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Kaporo 14 mi north · Itungi 22 mi north · Ngara 23 mi south-east

Shore, third and distances are measured from the coordinates above against the lake’s mapped outline.

The water

Lake-wide measured chemistry of Lake Malawi — collection points share their lake's water; site-specific figures are shown only where the literature records them.

Temperature75.2–84.2 °F24–29 °C
pH8.2–8.6alkaline
Hardnessmoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppm
Conductivity≈250–260 µS/cmmeasured range

Nearest measured station: Salima (south-east shore) (~427 km) — Conductivity 235 µS/cm

Surface temperature here

Across May–Dec, monthly means run 77 °F to 85 °F — coolest in Aug. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (901 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

75°78°81°84°Jan: too few clear satellite days (0)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (3)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (4)–MApr: too few clear satellite days (5)–AMay: 80 °F mean (79 °F–82 °F), 46 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 110 clear satellite daysJJul: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 131 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 194 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (76 °F–79 °F), 208 clear satellite daysSOct: 80 °F mean (78 °F–82 °F), 133 clear satellite daysONov: 83 °F mean (81 °F–85 °F), 56 clear satellite daysNDec: 85 °F mean (83 °F–86 °F), 11 clear satellite daysD
Surface temperature by month near Karonga — dot = mean, bar = typical range (10th–90th percentile), “–” = too cloudy to measure.

Temperature: ESA Climate Change Initiative, Lakes_cci v3.0 (Asfour et al. 2026; doi:10.5285/a56dba09df8a42ec9fba8b8c7a5e1f69). Chemistry on this page remains the lake's own.

Sources
  1. malawi.si — Karonga, Lake Malawi, Malawi: location page and photo gallery
  2. Konings, A. (2016). Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat, 5th Edition. Cichlid Press, El Paso.

Each entry below is the population of that species recorded here — the form aquarists keep and breed as a distinct, provenance-labelled line. Crossing forms from different collection points is considered hybridisation in the hobby.

Lethrinops (1)

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